Mythoblogia

Yes, OK, I'm on the case. Seems Arthur had a few names for his horses. That's assuming Arthur himself is for real. Which he probably isn't. The legendary Arthur that we know so well, or think we do, developed initially from the somewhat patchy and unreliable (but eminently readable) history of Britain written by Geoffrey of Monmouth, aided and abetted by the fabulous Welsh collection of anonymous fables known to us as the Mabinogion. And then of course the French got in on it and created a farce with a car chase and pretty, flirty girls getting older men into a twist. Ah, OK, I made that bit up.

Nevertheless it was that Frenchman Chrétien de Troyes who began what we know today to be the literary tradition of Arthurian romance. You can pick it up from Thomas Mallory's utterly wonderful Morte D'Arthur, published in 1485, too. Ahh, the valour and bravery of it all, the knights, the round table, the fabled sword Excalibur. Whilst there may be a grain of truth in it, English kings did not behave like French nobles, we know that for a fact. Lovely stories though.

So to the horses and their names. To quote legendofkingarthur.com (as you would), Welsh chronicles mention two names of horses owned by King Arthur. They are in the Tale of Culhwch ac Olwen, which is one of the stories that make up the Mabinogion. They attribute to Arthur a mare called Llamrei (or Llamrai) and another horse called Hengroen. Later French sources call his horse Passelande.. It's worth mentioning the Celtic horse-gods, too: Horsa and Hengist. Could be a link there, eh?

Labels: Hengist, Hengroen, Horsa, King Arthur, Llamrei, Passelande